matthew ellis
@matthiasellis.bsky.social
I think about things: media, capitalism, theory, history
teach at Portland State
podcast @tpnwicmfp.bsky.social
www.historiesofthepresent.com
teach at Portland State
podcast @tpnwicmfp.bsky.social
www.historiesofthepresent.com
Picked up a class at a nearby liberal arts school and I drive past this to get there each day
February 3, 2026 at 5:16 PM
Picked up a class at a nearby liberal arts school and I drive past this to get there each day
Reposted by matthew ellis
I think the "Comrade Josh" sequence in OBAA is one of the more mileage may vary parts of the movie but that's really just because it's the most on the nose satire of what left organizing looks like in practice most of the time
Ugh. The main anti-ICE group in Washington which has 44k followers on Facebook and has been going around to communities promoting classes is now promoting this anti-whistle nonsense for "harm reduction" reasons as well.
February 3, 2026 at 3:41 PM
I think the "Comrade Josh" sequence in OBAA is one of the more mileage may vary parts of the movie but that's really just because it's the most on the nose satire of what left organizing looks like in practice most of the time
Reposted by matthew ellis
Highly recommend this article showing how the "They're Eating the Pets" refrain emerged from the right's participatory propaganda machine. Extremely relevant, as many Haitian immigrants (the targets of that false rumor/campaign) lose their status Feb 3. americanunreality.substack.com/p/american-u...
American Unreality — Part 1: Springfield, Ohio
The Story That Devoured a Town
americanunreality.substack.com
February 3, 2026 at 12:17 AM
Highly recommend this article showing how the "They're Eating the Pets" refrain emerged from the right's participatory propaganda machine. Extremely relevant, as many Haitian immigrants (the targets of that false rumor/campaign) lose their status Feb 3. americanunreality.substack.com/p/american-u...
Reposted by matthew ellis
Seeing all the “professional” activists go after Stancil is negatively polarizing me into a stance that Minnesota is winning because it’s normal people rising to the occasion and pushing a lot of activist nonsense out of the way by doing it
February 2, 2026 at 11:08 PM
Seeing all the “professional” activists go after Stancil is negatively polarizing me into a stance that Minnesota is winning because it’s normal people rising to the occasion and pushing a lot of activist nonsense out of the way by doing it
things are pretty weird right now, not going to lie!
February 2, 2026 at 4:33 AM
things are pretty weird right now, not going to lie!
It’s crazy to think about how different the world was even as recently as 2022
February 2, 2026 at 12:10 AM
It’s crazy to think about how different the world was even as recently as 2022
*Michael Corleone in Godfather 3 voice* The Jameson Reading Group returns! I unfortunately won't be able to make this one but we've got a great lineup for our final session, with the book's editor @carsonw.bsky.social and @patricklyons.bsky.social.
SIGN UP HERE: forms.gle/XhdnwfDCqSPf...
SIGN UP HERE: forms.gle/XhdnwfDCqSPf...
February 1, 2026 at 10:50 PM
*Michael Corleone in Godfather 3 voice* The Jameson Reading Group returns! I unfortunately won't be able to make this one but we've got a great lineup for our final session, with the book's editor @carsonw.bsky.social and @patricklyons.bsky.social.
SIGN UP HERE: forms.gle/XhdnwfDCqSPf...
SIGN UP HERE: forms.gle/XhdnwfDCqSPf...
Thread
Students can't watch movies because they don't watch television.
January 31, 2026 at 11:12 PM
Thread
Reposted by matthew ellis
An administrative employee at a major Portland Oregon high school late this morning told me it’s *by far* the most widespread student demonstration they’ve seen in their career, including past walkouts, protests, etc
*70% non-attendance*
We abolish ICE together!
We protect our neighbors together!
*70% non-attendance*
We abolish ICE together!
We protect our neighbors together!
Thank you to OPB for putting together this excellent article commemorating this historic wildcat general shutdown day in Portland!!
Features multiple small business owners taking different approaches and a PPS student leading walkouts and demonstrations
🥲
www.opb.org/article/2026...
Features multiple small business owners taking different approaches and a PPS student leading walkouts and demonstrations
🥲
www.opb.org/article/2026...
January 30, 2026 at 8:56 PM
An administrative employee at a major Portland Oregon high school late this morning told me it’s *by far* the most widespread student demonstration they’ve seen in their career, including past walkouts, protests, etc
*70% non-attendance*
We abolish ICE together!
We protect our neighbors together!
*70% non-attendance*
We abolish ICE together!
We protect our neighbors together!
Reposted by matthew ellis
The college at which I'm employed, which has signed a contract with the AI firm that stole books from 131 colleagues & me, paid a student to write an op-ed for the student paper promoting AI, guided the writing of it, and did not disclose this to the paper. www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026...
College approached and paid student to write op-ed in The Dartmouth
The Dartmouth ran the article on Nov. 17 without knowledge that the College had been involved.
www.thedartmouth.com
January 29, 2026 at 10:40 PM
The college at which I'm employed, which has signed a contract with the AI firm that stole books from 131 colleagues & me, paid a student to write an op-ed for the student paper promoting AI, guided the writing of it, and did not disclose this to the paper. www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026...
And this is why the fascism argument can only go so far as a historical analogy for our current conjuncture (a thread of thinking out loud):
What caused Trump's historic climb down on Greenland? A Deutsche Bank memo pointing to the leverage that Europe has as the principal holder of US debt securities suggests one plausible scenario. www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/a...
Kapital als Waffe? Warum der Anleihemarkt selbst einem Donald Trump Angst macht
Der Anleihemarkt hat Trump im April schon einmal zum Umlenken gebracht – könnte das noch einmal gelingen, wenn nun die Europäer ihre US-Staatsanleihen verkaufen? Ausgerechnet die Deutsche Bank ist bei...
www.sueddeutsche.de
January 28, 2026 at 10:21 PM
And this is why the fascism argument can only go so far as a historical analogy for our current conjuncture (a thread of thinking out loud):
so much of what we colloquially call "neoliberalism" is just "shit the political class said in the 1980s to trick people into letting them dismantle the postwar state so they could make more money"
January 28, 2026 at 7:21 AM
so much of what we colloquially call "neoliberalism" is just "shit the political class said in the 1980s to trick people into letting them dismantle the postwar state so they could make more money"
Reposted by matthew ellis
Save this for when it comes back online! It’s currently down due to fash finality discovering it.
If you are on the ground at a protest and not sure if a journalist is safe to talk to, check out our hostile journalist lookbook! Sometimes it takes a minute to load, apologies for any pokeyness.
Hostile Press Lookbook
Here are some dishonest rage farmers that you should never talk to on camera.
You can used the filter and sort functions to create your own view. There are page navigations at the bottom of the embed...
www.doomsayer.me
January 28, 2026 at 4:01 AM
Save this for when it comes back online! It’s currently down due to fash finality discovering it.
This, plus Bovino’s idiotic interview on CNN, was a serious misstep that exposes a key fault line on the right. Some of them are at their core slaves to obedience, in thrall to the psychic pleasures that come from proximity to power as either a supplicant or authoritarian. A transhistorical urge!
I think the thing that killed the administration was that they were so gung-ho to find a reason that Pretti deserved to die that they accidentally declared that that the second amendment isn't real.
I have been waiting for this signal from Senator Rand Paul.
Senator Paul, Chairman of Senate Homeland Security Committee follows House committee. Sends letters to heads of ICE, CBP, USCIS to testify in public hearing.
Senator Paul, Chairman of Senate Homeland Security Committee follows House committee. Sends letters to heads of ICE, CBP, USCIS to testify in public hearing.
January 26, 2026 at 10:00 PM
This, plus Bovino’s idiotic interview on CNN, was a serious misstep that exposes a key fault line on the right. Some of them are at their core slaves to obedience, in thrall to the psychic pleasures that come from proximity to power as either a supplicant or authoritarian. A transhistorical urge!
I know things are crazy rn but i wanted to plug my upcoming @cinejourneys.bsky.social course that starts tomorrow night on Zoom at 8 EST: The Birth of Cinephilia. On the one hand, it will be historical: we’ll learn about the postwar New Waves and Henri Langlois’ Cinémàtheque Française
January 26, 2026 at 9:44 PM
I know things are crazy rn but i wanted to plug my upcoming @cinejourneys.bsky.social course that starts tomorrow night on Zoom at 8 EST: The Birth of Cinephilia. On the one hand, it will be historical: we’ll learn about the postwar New Waves and Henri Langlois’ Cinémàtheque Française
Reposted by matthew ellis
Rob is my best friend’s father in law and I know him well. He’s an absolutely incredible person and knowing him now, his past seems impossible. He is one of the most kind hearted, loving people I have ever met. He’s also brave AF to admit his past deeds and march alongside people he has harmed.
He spent decades bringing the religious right to power. Now he's marching to undo it.
Rev. Rob Schenck spent decades helping build the Religious Right—commingling church and state to advance conservative causes. Now, he says he must confront the damage he helped cause.
Rev. Rob Schenck spent decades helping build the Religious Right—commingling church and state to advance conservative causes. Now, he says he must confront the damage he helped cause.
January 26, 2026 at 6:50 AM
Rob is my best friend’s father in law and I know him well. He’s an absolutely incredible person and knowing him now, his past seems impossible. He is one of the most kind hearted, loving people I have ever met. He’s also brave AF to admit his past deeds and march alongside people he has harmed.
Reposted by matthew ellis
The Atlantic Magazine just dropped a tremendous story on the Minnesota Resistance. The author is a war correspondent & sees the echoes of leaderless community empowerment around the globe: www.theatlantic.com/politics/202... (supposed to be a gift link, might not work, it’s in Apple News, too.)
Welcome to the American Winter
In the frozen streets of Minneapolis, something profound is happening.
www.theatlantic.com
January 26, 2026 at 3:15 AM
The Atlantic Magazine just dropped a tremendous story on the Minnesota Resistance. The author is a war correspondent & sees the echoes of leaderless community empowerment around the globe: www.theatlantic.com/politics/202... (supposed to be a gift link, might not work, it’s in Apple News, too.)
Reposted by matthew ellis
I run a film club at a school and I regularly attend a local cinema. The crowds that are there are increasingly demographically diverse. My students love talking cinema and they are eager to hear/read about cinema’s trailblazers. I am optimistic about cinema IF it stays diverse…
January 26, 2026 at 7:13 AM
I run a film club at a school and I regularly attend a local cinema. The crowds that are there are increasingly demographically diverse. My students love talking cinema and they are eager to hear/read about cinema’s trailblazers. I am optimistic about cinema IF it stays diverse…
Reposted by matthew ellis
It's crazy that people are trying to give minnesotans advice when what we really need is for them to train the rest of us
I need people who don’t live in the Twin Cities to stop telling people not to join massive Signal groups right now. People are doing it. They’re going to keep doing it. Give them good advice about it.
The actually practical advice is don’t say anything to 1000 strangers you wouldn’t say in public
The actually practical advice is don’t say anything to 1000 strangers you wouldn’t say in public
January 26, 2026 at 2:52 AM
It's crazy that people are trying to give minnesotans advice when what we really need is for them to train the rest of us
unsurprisingly excellent
An intriguing and rigorously communist take on Minneapolis by Phil Neel published by the good folks at @illwill.bsky.social illwill.com/lies
Lies You Will Be Told • Ill Will
Phil A. Neel examines the post-2020 political order, arguing that liberal myths about law, elections, and restraint function as counterinsurgency in an era of open state violence.
illwill.com
January 26, 2026 at 2:43 AM
unsurprisingly excellent
oh huh
Minnesota CEOs issue joint letter urging de-escalation after shooting
Minnesota CEOs issue joint letter urging de-escalation after shooting
More than 60 CEOs of Minnesota-based companies including Target, Best Buy and UnitedHealth signed an open letter on Sunday calling for state, local and federal officials to work together.
myfox8.com
January 25, 2026 at 10:03 PM
oh huh
Bezos just announced the gutting of the WaPo sports section, which is a large driver of traffic keeping the lights on for the paper by the way
The Washington Post published a clear video of federal agents removing Alex Pretti's handgun moments before he was fatally shot. There's nothing in the video to suggest Pretti even reached for his weapon.
wapo.st/49Zqv1L
wapo.st/49Zqv1L
January 25, 2026 at 6:32 PM
Bezos just announced the gutting of the WaPo sports section, which is a large driver of traffic keeping the lights on for the paper by the way
the more i see how regular people are responding to this the more confident i am that we are going to make it
January 25, 2026 at 3:47 AM
the more i see how regular people are responding to this the more confident i am that we are going to make it